Labor is lagging the Coalition on the two issues both Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott cited as foremost in the election campaign – economic management and trust – the latest public opinion poll shows.

It also shows Labor has rapidly closed the gap on the handling of ­asylum seekers while Mr Abbott’s ­eleventh-hour embrace of the Gonski school funding formula has failed to help the Coalition make any inroads on Labor’s large lead as the party best to handle education.

The latest The Australian Financial Review/Nielsen poll shows that in just one month, the Coalition leads the government on economic management by 56 per cent to 38 per cent. This 18-percentage point lead is a 7-point increase on the Coalition’s 52-41 lead it held in the same poll a month ago, before the election was called.

The poll of 1400 voters, the first major public poll taken since the campaign began, was conducted from Tuesday night to Thursday night.

The polling period encompassed Tuesday’s interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank and Mr Abbott’s promise on Wednesday of a 1.5 point cut to company tax, costing the budget $5 billion.

The cash rate cut to a record-low 2.5 per cent was marked by furious argument about the state of the economy. Labor said it would be welcome relief for homeowners and business while the Coalition attacked it as evidence of a weak economy.

Economic argument

Coalition sources said internal polling showed the Opposition had won the economic argument this week. On trust, Mr Rudd has slipped badly behind Mr Abbott in just one month. When the question was polled a month ago, Mr Rudd led Mr Abbott by 45 per cent to 40 per cent on the question of trustworthiness. Mr Abbott now leads by 47 per cent to Mr Rudd’s 40 per cent.

After Mr Rudd replaced Julia Gillard as leader in late June, one of his priorities was to shut down the Coalition’s lead on border protection. Before calling the September 7 election, he cut deals with the governments of Papua New Guinea and Nauru. The Poll showed the Coalition led Labor on asylum seekers by 47 per cent to 39 per cent, but this gap has closed by 12-points since the last poll a month ago when the Coalition led Labor by 54 per cent to 34.

On education, Labor’s 56-36 lead that it held over the Coalition last month is unchanged.

Just before Mr Rudd called the election, Mr Abbott sought to neutralise education by suddenly announcing the Coalition’s support for the Gonski school funding formula.

For months, Mr Abbott and his shadow education minister ­Christopher Pyne had been slamming the policy as a con that would rip money out of schools.